Dr. Damin Spritzer

After an appointment as Visiting Professor of Music at the University of Oklahoma in Fall of 2014, Dr. Damin Spritzer was appointed full-time Assistant Professor of Organ at OU in 2015. She continues to serve the Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew in Dallas as Artist-in-Residence for the Cathedral Arts series, and was recently Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas, teaching Organ Literature and Sacred Music.
Praised for “enormous sensitivity and musicianship” by the AAM Journal and hailed as “elegantly assured” by the Dallas Morning News, recent recital appearances include performances in Orléans, France; Sao Paolo and Sao Bernardo, Brazil; and Oklahoma, Kentucky, California, Illinois, Arkansas, New York, Oregon, Georgia, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas.
In 2011 she released a world premier commercial international recording of the music of René Louis Becker, recorded in Pithiviers, France in 2010 at the newly renovated historic Cavaillé-Coll organ of the church of Saint-Salomon-Saint-Gregoire de Pithiviers. Choir & Organ magazine gave it five stars, writing that “Damin Spritzer serves both instrument and music well, alert to the music’s lyrical mien and harmonic muscle, negotiating the III/49 machine with an easy command of drama and a real feeling for Becker’s melody-led, cleanly-executed music…A second volume is eagerly awaited.” The AAM Journal wrote, “The music comes alive under her touch!…This recording is a delight…” And a review from Classical Music Sentinel praised the recording, saying “…Damin Spritzer drives the music along with plenty of forward momentum which adds a singing quality to the melodic lines and an assured rhythmic movement to the toccatas and marches…the final glorious chord of the Marche Triomphale will make you glad you’re alive.”
Her second volume of Becker’s organ music, recorded in Orléans, France in 2013 at the Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d’Orléans, received four stars from Choir & Organ, and the following praise from Classical Music Sentinel: “…Spritzer jumps right into the action with an assured confidence and refined musicality that quite simply reinforces the high level of craftmanship and beauty inherent to the music of composer René Louis Becker…The opening Toccata in B-flat alone, which could easily intimidate many organists with its agitated left-hand and busy pedal work, moves forward at quite a pace under Spritzer’s command, and thus reveals its determined musical lines all leading to a powerful finish…her choice of registration for the softly tender Cantilène, Op. 63 demonstrates an organist who knows how to balance colors on a sonic canvas… Both volumes belong on the shelves of all organ music enthusiasts.”
Dr. Spritzer has been heard on Michael Barone’s nationally-syndicated “Pipedreams®” radio broadcast on numerous programs and with “Pipedreams: Live!” performances. Tracks from her CDs have been broadcast in Rochester, New York; Montreal, Quebec; the Netherlands; SiriusXM 129; and on WRR 101.1 in Dallas, Texas.
Her Doctor of Musical Arts degree was received from the University of North Texas, and she received her MM in Organ Performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and her BM in Organ Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Leupold Foundation, which is dedicated to the preservation of pipe organ music and culture, and serves presently as Sub-Dean for the Southern Plains Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.